On these fora people have been claiming that they would move to another county if X was ever elected since GW Bush. Did anyone actually move?
Was it all just virtue signalling and hot air?
And a lot of people don't realize how hard it is.
Which is a back-handed way of acknowledgement that it was just virtue signalling and hot air.
I suspect some wanted to go but didn't realize what it would take.
Yeah, Americans are in the habit of assuming that it's easy to emigrate, and for Americans (or other OECD) citizens moving to developing non-OECD nations, it generally is - the only hurdles are financial, as you can often get residency for a moderate visa fee, if you can show that you are bringing some wealth (and better still, income) with you.
Moving
between OECD nations is much harder, even between such apparently similar neighbours as the USA and Canada. It's trivially easy for a US citizen to enter Canada as a tourist, but becoming a resident is not easy - indeed, the easiest route is to become an illegal immigrant, without the right to work, or to government assistance, having entered on a tourist visa and then failed to leave when it expires.
This is also by FAR the largest source of illegal immigrants in Australia, despite the government and media caricature of illegal immigrants as being Asians who arrive by boat across the Timor Sea, with the assistance of "people smugglers". The numbers of such illegal immigrants are dwarfed by the number of EU and UK citizens living and working illegally in Australia, having arrived by airplane as tourists.
Living as an illegal immigrant is OK for young single people, particularly if they live in a tourist hotspot. But it's not a lifestyle most older people or people with families can readily adopt - it's a big step down in quality of life, as the pay and conditions are poor (you can't complain to the authorities if you are being ripped-off), and there is zero access to government services.
Most Americans would struggle to qualify for Canadian residency (and most Canadians would similarly struggle to qualify for a US "green card").
